On Monday, the Inkatha Freedom Party launched its 50th anniversary celebration at the Durban City Hall. The IFP will celebrate with a series of events highlighting its historical contributions and future vision for South Africa. | Sibonelo Ngcobo/ Independent Newspapers
Although the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) officially marks 50 years on March 21, it has already started its celebrations with a launch at the Durban City Hall on Monday.
Supporters joined President Velenkosini Hlabisa, KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Thamsanqa Ntuli, treasurer general Narend Singh, national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa, NEC member Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi and deputy national chairperson Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa with other parety leaders.
The IFP was founded as the Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement (INCLM), or Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe, on March 21, 1975, in KwaNzimela, Melmoth, in northern KZN, by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Hlabisa said a year-long program will celebrate the immeasurable role and contribution made by the “IFP in the history of our country to date, the legacy of our founder and President Emeritus, the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the watershed moments that have proven the strength, resilience, value and tenacity of the IFP”.
He said that despite the party being written off countless times since 1975, it had grown from strength to strength over the past five decades. Its role in South Africa’s liberation and building a post-democratic South Africa is undeniable, he said.
The year will focus on the IFP’s legacy and its role in shaping the country’s history and future.
“This legacy has been built over five decades, through the individual contributions of millions of South Africans, coming together around a shared vision of unity, solidarity and freedom,” Hlabisa said.
“Our legacy was built with the hands, sweat, blood and voices of generations that came before us, and it will be built with the hands and voices of this generation and the next.”
The party will mark this significant milestone in the life of the IFP with rallies, prayers and community engagements.
“I can announce today (Monday) that on March 21, 2025, on the IFP’s birthday, the party will host a Thanksgiving Prayer Service to be held at KwaNzimela, the IFP’s birthplace. This will be preceded by a wreath-laying ceremony at the tombstone of Bishop Zulu,” Hlabisa said.
“This will be followed by a birthday rally on March 23, 2025, in Ulundi at the Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Stadium. During April and May we will host district celebration rallies in KZN.
“During June and August, the 50th Anniversary celebrations will shift its focus to the Youth and Women’s Brigades and the role they have played in contributing to a vibrant IFP.”
Hlabisa said the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had declared that going forward, Prince Buthelezi’s birthday (August 27), will be known as Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Day where all party structures will embark on community activities.
“On July 5, 2025, the party will host a rally at Ingwavuma to commemorate the intervention of uMntwana waKwaPhindangene, which ensured that the residents of that area kept their South African citizenship because the apartheid government had decided to cede Ingwavuma to Eswatini,” Hlabisa continued.
“District rallies will be held in Gauteng province during July and September 2025, which will culminate in a wreath-laying ceremony in Thokoza to remember those who died so tragically through black-on-black violence. The party will also hold a 50th-year Anniversary Celebrations Rally at the Jabulani Amphitheatre in Soweto,” Hlabisa said.
“In October and November, the IFP will host a meeting of its stalwarts and we will unveil a remembrance plaque on the premises of the Ulundi IFP office, to remember those who lost their lives in service and defence of the IFP, and our country.”
Hlabisa said with these events, the party is retracing its steps of 50 years as a springboard that will take the party into the future.
thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za